Augusta shuffles towards the Rosemont start-up
John Feary, 12th Apr 2012
DENVER, Apr 12 – Arizona’s Rosemont copper mine is expected to account for 10% of USA copper production once it gets into production, but it still has a few more hurdles to clear in the mine permitting obstacle course.
Augusta Resource Corporation’s 100%-owned Rosemont deposit in Pima County, 50km southeast of Tucson, is expected to produce 221Mlb copper a year over more than 20 years once it gets into production from 2014. Proven and probable mineral reserves at January 2009 were 546M tons at 0.45% copper, 0.015% molybdenum and 0.12oz/ton silver in sulphide ore plus 70M tons at 0.17% copper in oxide ore.
The issue of the Aquifer Protection Permit by the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality establishes the operating standards and controls to ensure the protection of ground water and is effective for the life of the mine.
Rosemont has now received six major permits required to commence construction and expects to receive the Air Quality Permit and Clean Water Act Section 404 Permit this quarter or the September quarter. The Record of Decision on the Plan of Operations from the US Forest Service is also close.
The USFS is drafting its response to the over 25,000 comments submitted – including 10,000 characterised as form letters or duplicates – in response to the draft environmental impact statement.
Other hurdles along the way have included consultation with the Fish and Wildlife Service and developing draft mitigation plans for species protection, mine reclamation and site closure.
Augusta CEO Rod Pace says the Aquifer Protection Permit “puts us one major step closer to completing the permitting process and starting construction on this 21st century mining project ...”
A recent global survey by international minerals industry advisors Behre Dolbear Group had the US tying with Papua New Guinea in last place for permitting delays.
“Permitting delays are the most significant risk to mining projects in the US,” the report said. “A few mining friendly states (Nevada, Utah, Kentucky, West Virginia and Arizona) are an exception to this rule but are negatively impacted by federal rules that they are bound to enforce, resulting in a seven to 10-year waiting period before mine development can begin.”
However, Pace is composed about the issue. Speaking earlier this year about progress on the environmental impact statement, he said: “Our leadership has always understood that our project would receive the highest scrutiny from all local state and federal agencies
“We want to build a mine, using the latest technologies and highest standards for conservation and protection of air and water resources.”
Extensive reviews by the Environmental Protection Agency as well as all the other commenting agencies produced the input needed to produce the most defendable final decision documentation possible, Pace said.
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